North Korean leader Kim Jong-un urged the country to exponentially increase its nuclear arsenal and mass-produce tactical nuclear weapons able to strike within South Korean territory, labeling South Korea as an “undoubted enemy” at a key party meeting, North Korean state media reported Sunday. In response to Kim’s explicit threat, the South Korean military publicly warned that any nuclear attack by North Korea would spell the end of the Kim Jong-un regime. Defense Minister Lee

North Korea Jan. 1, 2023

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday ordered the military to “punish and retaliate against any North Korean provocations in no uncertain terms” without the fear of nuclear weapons, amid growing public concern about security in the aftermath of the cross-border infiltration of North Korean drones. Speaking at a meeting with aides, Yoon said that immediate retaliation is the “most powerful means to deter provocations,” according to Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential secretary

Defense Dec. 28, 2022

The South Korean military on Tuesday made a public apology over its failure to bring down five North Korean drones and trace their whereabouts even a day after they trespassed into South Korean airspace as North Korea’s cross-border offensive has left the South Korean military’s response capabilities in question. “The lack of our military’s preparedness has caused a lot of concerns to the public,” Kang Shin-chul, director of operations for South Korea’s Joint

Defense Dec. 27, 2022

Five uncrewed North Korean aerial vehicles on Monday intruded into South Korean airspace for the first time since 2017 and flew over Seoul and the western inter-Korean border area, prompting immediate counteraction from the South Korean military. The South Korean military scrambled Air Force fighter jets and attack helicopters after first identifying an apparent uncrewed aerial vehicle that flew from North Korea and crossed south of the military demarcation line, the Joint Chiefs of Staff confir

North Korea Dec. 26, 2022

This is the final installment of a three-part series shedding light on North Korea’s cryptocurrency thefts and their links to the hermit regime’s nuclear ambitions. -- Ed. The financially-isolated North Korean regime is behind one of the biggest cryptocurrency heists of all time. The North Korean state-run Lazarus Group, for instance, stealthily raked in hundreds of millions of dollars with only one cryptocurrency theft this year which appears to be directly linked to their astronom

North Korea Dec. 19, 2022

After a two-month long initial inter-agency investigation, the South Korean military announced during a closed-door briefing Thursday the outcome regarding the malfunction of a Hyunmoo 2-C ballistic missile. Further full-scale inspections to determine the precise cause of the accident will occur December to March next year. The military will focus on examining missile navigation, control and guidance systems during the inspections. The Hyunmoo 2-C ballistic missile crashed into a golf course loc

Defense Dec. 16, 2022

By Ji Da-gyum and Joint Press Corps The US Space Forces Korea, mainly tasked with operating space-based assets and detecting and tracking missile launches, was officially launched on Wednesday amid escalating missile threats from North Korea. The US Space Force activated its overseas component field command in South Korea, a subordinate unit to the newly established US Space Forces Indo-Pacific as well as a sub-unified command of the US Forces Korea (USFK). The US Space Forces Korea (

Defense Dec. 14, 2022

South Korea is developing homegrown combat weapons, defense and surveillance systems to enhance the military’s deterrence and readiness posture against mounting and persisting North Korean threats, the head of South Korea’s state arms procurement agency told The Korea Herald. The expeditious completion of the homegrown three-axis defense system — which consists of the Kill Chain preemptive strike mechanism, the Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) and the Korea Massive Punishme

Defense Dec. 13, 2022

The European Union on Monday levied sanctions on eight individuals and four entities, including North Korea’s Ministry of Rocket Industry and its subordinate trading company, for illegally providing support and funds for North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. The EU unveiled a new round of unilateral sanctions aimed at North Korea for the first time since this April in response to the Kim Jong-un regime’s record-breaking number of missile launches. The EU said imposing add

North Korea Dec. 13, 2022

This is the second installment of a three-part series shedding light on North Korea’s cryptocurrency thefts and their links to the hermit regime’s nuclear ambitions. -- Ed. Early this year, a senior engineer at Axie Infinity, a Vietnamese company that runs a popular blockchain-based play-to-earn game, was encouraged to apply for a lucrative job through LinkedIn. But after the engineer opened a document file with a job offer letter, the network of the Ronin bridge, a platform created

North Korea Dec. 12, 2022

The UN Security Council will discuss the human rights situation in North Korea behind closed doors this week for a third consecutive year, since 2020 despite human rights organizations’ calls for an open discussion. The US will raise North Korean human rights issues under “Any Other Business (AOB),” at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday, a US diplomatic source with knowledge of the matter, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed to The Korea Herald on Wednesday i

North Korea Dec. 7, 2022

North Korea on Tuesday fired around 100 artillery shells toward the inter-Korean maritime buffer zone in a tit-for-tat action against South Korea and US live-fire drills staged near the border, further escalating tensions on the peninsula. Around 90 artillery shots were fired from the area of Kosong County in Kangwon Province toward buffer zones in the East Sea from 10:00 a.m. local time, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed, adding the artillery firing continued until this aftern

North Korea Dec. 6, 2022

This is the first installment of a three-part series shedding light on North Korea’s cryptocurrency thefts and their links to the hermit regime’s nuclear ambitions. -- Ed. Borders were closed and trade was cut off while international sanctions continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, further isolating North Korea, one of the world’s most impoverished nations. But its regime has discovered new ways of raking in funds to continuously pursue its missile ambitions and divert sa

North Korea Dec. 6, 2022

North Korea on Monday fired around 130 artillery shells into inter-Korean maritime buffer zones as South Korea and the US kicked off regular live-fire drills near the border. The artillery shells were fired from Jangsan Cape in South Hwanghae Province and Kumgang County in Kangwon Province from around 2:59 p.m. local time, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday afternoon. The artillery shots fell inside the buffer zone, but north of the Northern Limit Line, violating a 2018 dea

North Korea Dec. 5, 2022

South Korea’s Air Force said Thursday it had expanded its space operations unit to enhance interoperability between the South Korean and US space forces against air and missile threats from North Korea. The launch of the “Space Operations Squadron” aims to strengthen the South Korean Air Force’s “capabilities to conduct space operations in practice," it said. The squadron will surveil space objects and send alerts concerning space threats, it said in a statemen

Defense Dec. 1, 2022